Category Archives: Event

Once again this year two Rapid City area FHA Legislative Review Events were held to give our FHA friends and partners a “choice” as to which one best fit their schedules. The Cedar Canyon Wesleyan Camp was the perfect host location for these two events. Camp Manager Ben Sutton was more than accommodating as he helped us prepare the facility and serve a delicious meal to welcome our 120 total guests.

We were honored to have in attendance on Tuesday evening Rapid City Council Ward One Candidate Becky Drury, Pennington County Sheriff Kevin Thom, and Representative Taffy Howard. Wednesday’’s luncheon saw several more elected officials in the house including County Commissioner Mark DiSanto, Senator Phil Jensen, and Representatives Lynne DiSanto and ‘Chip’ Campbell.

Each year we are blessed at these two events to have the most splendid assistance of TeenPact Students and their Sponsors. Under the excellent leadership of SD TeenPact State Coordinator Joanne Woods these seven young people helped set-up, served and cleaned-up after the event. Joanne and Pastor Phil Shively, a TeenPact Class Director, shared with us the amazing results of a very successful TeenPact year. For more information on the TeenPact Program go to www.teenpact.com.

Wednesday’s event was video taped by Western Sky Media and will soon be up on our website.

As a pastor, I am passionately involved in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the world and I am not ashamed of it. I am also not ashamed of being an American and I passionately love our country and her Christian values. I preached on “politics” for several weeks surrounding the November election… not necessarily on a particular candidate… but on each parties political platform and encouraged our people to vote on the platforms, not necessarily candidates. One platform was unashamedly Christian, while the other platform was filled with opposition to biblical values. They were some of the most powerful… and most informative… messages I had ever preached. Praise God that SD… and the rest of our nation… elected a party and people who share those biblical values… back to positions of power.

On February 7th… I was able to attend the FHA Action’s SD Ministry Leaders’ Capitol Summit in Pierre. It was the first one I had ever attended. I’d love to say I had a great time and can’t wait to go back… but for me, as an introvert… it was a little uncomfortable. I didn’t know anyone except Dale Bartscher… and he was a little too busy to babysit me all day!! However, as I walked around the Capitol and witnessed numerous State Representatives, Senators, and Cabinet officials boldly proclaiming their faith… God spoke to me about how they needed our support and our prayers.

I came back with a big project in mind. Personal prayer cards for every Representative, every Senator, and every Cabinet official… regardless of political party… based on 1 Tim 2:1-3…“First of all, I urge that petitions, prayers, intercessions and thanksgivings be made for everyone… for kings and all those in authority… so that we may lead a tranquil and quiet life in all godliness and dignity… this is good and it pleases God our Savior.”

That’s a tall task. Hundreds of envelopes had to be addressed and stamped… and hundreds had to be taken by our congregation and personally written in. My administrative assistants, Darlis and Sarah, did an amazing job of getting that ready in a short week and then preparing them for our congregation. We made an announcement on a Sunday morning… telling people what we were doing… and asking them to take at least one card, but possibly more… and write something in there encouraging our elected officials. By the end of the day… ALL the cards had been taken. God was using us to do exactly what He had planned. To pray for those in authority… all those in authority… even those we might possibly disagree with. We hope we were able to be a blessing and encouragement to those folks during an extremely difficult time… and to let them know there were people that supported them and were praying for them. It was a great privilege for us to be involved in this way.

East River Bus

There will be a 55-passenger ‘Grey Hound Bus’ traveling to Pierre from Sioux Falls at ‘no cost’ to the passengers. The bus will leave from the Northwest Walmart parking lot, the southeast corner of the lot, (5200 W 60th Street N, Sioux Falls) @ 5:15 a.m. (CST) and will return by 6:00 p.m.

Pastors, Priests and Para-Church Ministry Leaders are encouraged to come. The event begins with refreshments in the Capitol Rotunda. Our keynote speaker will be Pastor JC Church, Family Research Council’s Representative . Lunch will be served at Noon at Community Bible Church.

West River Bus

There will be a 56-passenger ‘Grey Hound Bus’ traveling to Pierre from Rapid City at no cost to the passengers. The bus will leave from the Flying J Truck Stop’s East Parking Lot (I-90 & Elk Vale Road) @ 5:15 a.m. (MST) and will return by 5:00 p.m.

Pastors, Priests and Para-Church Ministry Leaders are encouraged to come. The event begins with refreshments in the Capitol Rotunda. Our keynote speaker will be Pastor JC Church, Family Research Council’s Representative . Lunch will be served at Noon at Community Bible Church.

Pastors, Priests and Para-Church Ministry Leaders are encouraged to come. The event begins with refreshments in the Capitol Rotunda. Our keynote speaker will be Pastor JC Church, Family Research Council’s Representative . Lunch will be served at Noon at Community Bible Church.

Our 2016 Legislative Briefings are now in our rear-view mirror as we believe they were the finest briefings we’ve held to date. It was Steve Backley who once said, “There are three types of people: those that get things done, those that watch things being done, and those that don’t even know anything was done.” It was “those that get things done” who were in attendance for this year’s FHA Action’s Legislative Briefings. Here’s a brief look at both of them:

• Eastern SD Legislative Briefing:Central Baptist Church was once again our most excellent Sioux Falls host location on Thursday, December 8. We were catered by the Royal Fork Restaurant and they did a terrific job accommodating the Legislators who, because of IM22, had to paid them directly for their meal cost that day. There were 41 persons in attendance including: #15 Legislators; #1 Sioux Falls City Council Member; #7 Lobbyists; #3 FHA Staff and several other special guests.

Eastern SD Legislative Briefing Central Baptist Church in Sioux Falls

• Western SD Legislative Briefing:Dove Christian Center was once again our Rapid City host location on Saturday, December 10. We were catered by the FHA Board & Advisory Council and a special word of gratitude goes out to Debra Watson, Vicki Schlauger and Janet vanHouten for making this Brunch deliciously wonderful. Those Legislators in attendance covered the cost of their own brunch’s expense. There were 40 persons in attendance including: #9 Legislators; #1 Sheriff; #12 Lobbyists; #4 FHA Board Members; #4 FHA Staff and several other special guests.

Western SD Legislative Briefing at the Dove Christian Center in Rapid City

A variety of possible legislation for the 92nd SD Legislative Session were discussed. None of the bills and resolutions mentioned during the Briefings have been endorsed or opposed by the FHA Action to date. Topics included: The Sanctify of Life; Religious Freedom; Student Privacy and Safety; Human Trafficking; Second Amendment; Elderly Care; Pornography; Physician Assisted Suicide; Terrorism – See Something/Say Something; and more.

FHA Action Lobbyists Dale Bartscher, Norman Woods and Ed Randazzo are looking forward to working closely with our SD Legislators as we seek to champion Faith, Family and Freedom in a greater way in 2017. We will be ‘Boots On The Ground’ at our State Capitol from January 10 – March 10, 2017. Please pay close attention to www.FHAaction.org to follow our work in Pierre as together we engage on those pieces of Legislation we are either supporting or opposing. Yes, we are better and stronger together!

This event, which pulls together ministry leaders from across the state of South Dakota, provides networking, unity, fellowship, vital information about the government of our state, and an awesome touch point between ministry leaders and legislators. The Summit springs from the core of who we are as an organization, from our “DNA” if you please, and it is certainly one of the most important events of our calendar year. So, if you lead a ministry, mark your calendar for February 7, and make plans now to join us in Pierre on that day.

As in the past, we are providing bus transportation to Pierre for those who would like to go green. You can fellowship, read, or sleep and leave the driving to us. As last year, we are providing two buses. Each bus will leave from their respective locations promptly at 5:15 AM on the 7th (did we mention you can sleep on the bus?).

Family Research Council’s Pastor JC Church will be our keynote speaker.

West River Bus

There will be a 56-passenger ‘Grey Hound Bus’ traveling to Pierre from Rapid City at no cost to the passengers. The bus will leave from the Flying J Truck Stop’s East Parking Lot (I-90 & Elk Vale Road) @ 5:15 a.m. (MST) and will return by 5:00 p.m.

East River Bus

There will be a 55-passenger ‘Grey Hound Bus’ traveling to Pierre from Sioux Falls at ‘no cost’ to the passengers. The bus will leave from the Northwest Walmart parking lot, the southeast corner of the lot, (5200 W 60th Street N, Sioux Falls) @ 5:15 a.m. (CST) and will return by 6:00 p.m.

Registration

As always, you can register online or you can call our office at 605.718.5433. Registration deadline is Wednesday, February 1! We need you to register for one (and only one) of three options: